Je ne sens plus mes jambes

Andy

Kwiziq community member

19 December 2016

3 replies

Je ne sens plus mes jambes

Hello, in the writing test for A2 Week 35 'Je ne sens plus mes jambes' is given as the answer for a translation of 'I can't feel my legs anymore.'
Since in this sentence 'jambes' are the object, this left me a bit confused.
~Could you help please?

Aurélie

Kwiziq language super star

19 December 2016

19/12/16

Bonjour Andy !
I know it's quite confusing, don't worry !
Here it's a case of needing to specify which legs as the context is not that explicit.
For example, the verb here is not reflexive, as in "Je me brosse les dents." (I brush myself the teeth.), in which case we're given the owner of the teeth within the sentence.
Here we need to say "mes jambes" as opposed to someone else's.
And in the case of "J'ai des crampes dans les épaules", you use "les" because of the clear context set up in the previous sentence, but also of the use of "avoir" (J'ai des crampes) which emphasises the belonging of the shoulders to the person speaking, hence the use of "les".

Andy

Kwiziq community member

19 December 2016

19/12/16

Aha that makes perfect sense
Merci beaucoup !

Janet

Kwiziq community member

9 October 2017

9/10/17

Sorry, I don't see the logic of your answer, re "Je ne sens plus mes jambes". I mean, wouldn't it be clear, if someone says, "I can't feel...." that they would be referring to their legs, and not someone else's? Unless we're talking about an X-rated film. ;-) Therefore, shouldn't the correct answer be "Je ne sens plus LES jambes" ?